In the "secret" video Romney says the following:
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.
Got that? Obama's voters are all a bunch of poor leaches. Or to frame it correctly, Romney is saying that all poor leaches are Obama voters.
Romeny and his defenders are saying, "Hey! Romney got the facts right! 47% of the population doesn't pay [federal] income taxes!"
It might might be true that 47% of the population doesn't pay income taxes, but hardly all of them are Obama voters. In fact, most of the poor don't vote anyway. It's really a lesson we all learned in poli sci (except Romney and his defenders, apparently). Let's set aside that a large chunk of the 47% are seniors on Social Security. And, further, let's set aside that most seniors voted against Obama in 2008 and against the Democrats in 2010. Let's just consider the portion of the population that might be too poor to pay federal income taxes.
First, 25% of those making under $15,000 a year voted for McCain. But guess what? Those making under $15,000 only account for 6% of the electorate in 2008.
Those making between $15,000 and $30,000 also voted for Obama, but by a narrower margin: 60% for Obama and 37% for McCain. This income group made up a whopping 12% of the electorate in 2008. That means that those making under $30,000 in 2008 combined to make up a total of 18% of the electorate.
But wait! There's more! What if we included those with incomes up to 50,000 a year as belonging to Mr Romney's "47%"? Well, those making 30-50,000 also went for Obama by 55-43% margin. They made up 19% of the 2008 electorate. The total percent of voters who made less than $50,000 was 38% --- and 38% of them voted for Mr McCain.
But wait! There's more! When we combine race and income we find out that income based voting is largely a factor of race more than income. For example, 51% of whites who made under $50,000 voted for McCain. Whereas minorities who made under $50k voted overwhelmingly for Obama, consistent with minority voting patterns at all income groups.
But wait! There's more! What about voters in Mr Romney's 53%? Those who made more than $50,000? They were perfectly spilt 49% went for Obama and 49% went for McCain.
But... yeh, there's more... what about the wealthiest voters? What about the very voters Romney attempts to appeal to with his class warfare rhetoric? You know, those who make more than $200,000? In 2008, they were overwhelmingly for Obama 52-46 percent.
These facts aren't hidden secret things. They are right there for all of us to see. Anyone who has been to an intro course in Poli-Sci understands that poor voters are far less likely to vote because they are less likely to believe their interests will be taken care of by the leading candidates. It is also a well known trend that voters on government assistance don't always vote their interests, and when it comes to southern poor whites and white seniors, they almost never vote their economic interests. Romney's comments can only mean one of two things: he's completely ignorant of this reality or he's a liar. We already know that he lies through his teeth, so I'll go with liar.
[Source: CNN 2008 National Election Polls]